Michigan Group Rallies Voters to Get Trash Out of State’s BackyardMichigan Group Rallies Voters to Get Trash Out of State’s Backyard

Lynn Schenkman

Detroit -- Twelve environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, Michigan Environmental Council and Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, have collectively formed a campaign to protest and potentially decrease interstate and Canadian waste from entering Michigan. The group, Don’t Trash Michigan, has launched a Web site,

www.stoptrash.org

, and plans to hold anti-trash rallies around the state. Their goal is largely to influence voters and to get them in contact with the appropriate state and federal lawmakers when the issue of Michigan trash hits the docket. All bills proposed during the past few years have not passed. Although Michigan receives trash from Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin, the weekly 23,750 tons from Toronto are the greatest concern.